Thursday, May 5, 2011

Cosmetics may be more than skin deep


The cosmetics and skin care industries are huge global profit makers. As with any industry, the cheaper the ingredients and the higher the price that consumers are willing to spend on the final product, the greater the profits the company can produce. Unfortunately, when it comes to cosmetics, this often means that ingredients that are known to be toxic are regularly used in countless products because they are the cheapest alternatives available.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) has been looking into this issue for some time and have developed a searchable cosmetics ingredients database called Skin Deep. This database has recently been updated and contains the ingredients of thousands of cosmetics and skin care related products. In addition, Skin Deep provides valuable information regarding the safety and efficacy of these ingredients.
From their FAQ:
EWG's Skin Deep is an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products, launched in 2004 to help people find safer products, with fewer ingredients that are hazardous or that haven't been thoroughly tested. Skin Deep combines product ingredient lists with information in more than 50 standard toxicity and regulatory databases. The database provides easy-to-navigate safety ratings for tens of thousands of personal care products. 
So the next time you consider buying your favorite cosmetics or skin care products you may want to consider consulting this excellent resource to make sure that you are not inadvertently risking your health.  Furthermore, by spending your money on products from responsible cosmetics companies, using only the safest ingredients, you will also be encouraging all cosmetics companies to "clean up their act" as they realize that educated consumers are no longer willing to risk their health simply because they want to look beautiful.
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For Further reading on this topic see our previous post:
Toxicants - A Day's Exposure


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Researched and written by Dr. Rebecca Malamed, M.D. with assistance from Mr. Malcolm Potter.

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